Molecular mechanism of haemolysis induced by triphenyltin chloride.

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APPLIED ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
Molecular mechanism of haemolysis induced by
triphenyltin chloride
KveÏtoslava Burda1*, Janusz Lekki1, Jakub CiesÂlak2, Jerzy Kruk3, Margorzata Lekka1,
Stanisraw Dubiel2, Jan Stanek4 and Zbigniew Stachura1
1
Institute of Nuclear Physics, ul. Radzikowskiego 152, 31-342 Kraków, Poland
Faculty of Physics and Nuclear Techniques, The University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH), al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków,
Poland
3
Institute of Molecular Biology, Jagiellonian University, al. Mickiewicza 3, 31-120 Kraków, Poland
4
Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, ul. Reymonta 4, 31-059 Kraków, Poland
2
Received 12 April 2001; Accepted 5 November 2001
Organometals are known to cause lysis of cells, but the molecular mechanism of their action is not
recognized. In this work, we have examined the interaction of triphenyltin with erythrocyte
membranes. We determined the order of haemolytic activity of the investigated organometal species
as being: triphenyllead > tripropyltin = triphenyltin > triethyllead > trimethyltin. Such an order
suggests that the haemolytic activity increases with the increasing hydrophobicity of the organic
ligands. Compounds containing lead are more toxic than the respective complexes of tin. Triphenyltin
chloride (Ph3SnCl) is very effective in lysis of erythrocytes. Using 119Sn MoÈssbauer spectroscopy we
showed that triphenyltin interacts with the protein components of pig erythrocyte membranes in a
highly specific way, but we did not detect any interaction of triphenyltin with pig haemoglobin. The
MoÈssbauer spectrum was fitted with a single doublet characterized by hyperfine parameters that
differ considerably from those reported for other organotin compounds in membranes of red blood
cells. Applying the point charge model of the electric field gradient for the analysis of the
environment of tin bonds from the quadrupole splitting, we could indicate Nhet from histidine and/or
Sthiol from cysteine as the only possible ligands of Ph3Sn(IV). We expect that protein components of
erythrocyte membranes having similar cysteine and histidine arrangement, such as in cat or rat
haemoglobins, which provide high-affinity binding sites for organotins, can bind triphenyltin with
high affinity. We give some arguments that ankyrin and b-spectrin are the most probable targets of
Ph3Sn(IV) action and indicate its potential binding sites within the proteins. The highly specific
interaction of triphenyltin with the membrane cytoskeleton components, postulated by us, should
already influence the rigidity of red blood cells at the stage preceding the lysis of erythrocytes. To
support this hypothesis, we carried out scanning force microscopy measurements of red blood cells
elasticity. We have observed a lower stiffness for erythrocytes treated with concentrations of Ph3SnCl
that caused less than 20% of haemolysis. Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEYWORDS: erythrocyte; haemolysis; triphenyltin; MoÈssbauer spectroscopy; scanning force microscopy
INTRODUCTION
Among the organometallic compounds, organotins and
organoleads have been found as the most common toxicants
for living organisms. They leak into the environment mainly
*Correspondence to: K. Burda, FakultaÈt fuÈr Biologie, Lehrstuhl Zellphysiologie, UniversitaÈt Bielefeld, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
E-mail: kveta.burda@biologie.uni-bielefeld.de
Contract/grant sponsor: State Committee for Scienti®c Research (KBN);
Contract/grant number: 2 PO3B 06615; Contract/grant number: 6 PO4A
03817.
DOI:10.1002/aoc.272
as a result of the widespread use of various chemicals,
especially biocides.1 They are accumulated in plants and
animals, leading to their poisoning.2 The organotin and
organolead compounds are easily soluble in the lipid
fraction of cell membranes. The degree and location of cell
disruption by the organometals depends on the chemical
structure of the toxicant, viz. the length of the alkyl chain, its
hydrophobicity and the metal cation. Usually, organoleads
and organotins lead to the lysis of cells, but the molecular
basis of this process is not yet resolved. It is known that these
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Organotin-induced haemolysis
compounds affect various biochemical processes. For example, organoleads cause the liberation of arachidonic acid
from biological membranes,3 organotins mediate chloride±
hydroxide exchange across membranes4,5 and inhibit the
adenosine triphosphate synthase (ATPase) complex in
mitochondria6 and chloroplasts.7
In this work, we studied the process of haemolysis
induced by triphenyltin chloride (Ph3SnCl) and tried to
explain its high haemolytic activity at the molecular level.
We also compared the haemolytic activity of triphenyltin
with other organometalic species. The chemical surroundings of triphenyltin within erythrocyte membranes were
examined using 119Sn MoÈssbauer spectroscopy. The hyperfine parameters of the MoÈssbauer spectra indicate a highly
specific binding site for tin within the protein fraction of
membranes. A comparison of the elasticity of red blood cells
treated with various concentrations of organotin compounds
with the elasticity of the untreated cells confirmed our
hypothesis, that some proteins forming the membrane
cytoskeleton of erythrocytes provide binding sites for
triphenyltin. Measurements performed by scanning force
microscopy showed that only triphenyltin, at very low
concentrations, influenced the rigidity of the erythrocyte.
We believe that the analysis presented here may be
applicable to the investigations of the lysis process for a
wider class of cells, because many structural and functional
properties of erythrocyte membranes are similar to many
other types of cell.8
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Erythrocytes were prepared from fresh hog blood (containing 3.8% citric acid as an anti-coagulant). The blood was
centrifuged (1000g, 4 °C) for 15 min and plasma was
removed. Precipitated cells were suspended in 5 mM
phosphate buffer pH 7.4 with 0.15 M NaCl. This suspension
was centrifuged (1000g, 4 °C) and the supernatant was
removed. This procedure was repeated three times. Finally,
the washed erythrocytes were suspended in the phosphate
buffer with NaCl at a cell concentration of 2 109 red blood
cells per millilitre. The suspension of washed erythrocytes
was divided into several parts of 3 ml volume each. These
suspensions were then incubated at 37 °C in the presence of
various concentrations of the organometallic species for 30
and 60 min: trimethyltin chloride (Me3SnCl), tri-n-propyltin
chloride (Pr3SnCl) and Ph3SnCl for 30 min; triethyllead
chloride (Et3PbCl) and triphenyllead chloride (Ph3PbCl).
All the chemicals were from Alf GmbH. The compounds
were added from ethanol stock solutions (except for
trimethyltin) in such amounts that the final concentrations
in the samples were as follows: 66, 132, 270 and 430 mM of
Me3SnCl; 33, 66, 132, 263 and 424 mM of Pr3SnCl; 17, 33, 66,
132, 260 and 506 mM of Ph3SnCl; 17, 33, 66, 131, 260 and
390 mM of Et3PbCl; 8.3, 17, 33, 66, 130 and 320 mM of Ph3PbCl.
We have also tested for possible haemolysis caused by
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ethanol. In the case of concentrations of organometals up to
130 mM, the concentration of ethanol in samples did not
exceed 1% and we did not observe haemolysis in a blank test
for ethanol. At the highest applied concentration of
organotin (506 mM) the ethanol concentration reached 4% in
a sample. At this concentration the ethanol caused less than
20% of haemolysis in a control sample incubated at 37 °C for
30 min. Afterwards, the suspensions of red blood cells were
centrifuged at 1000g for 15 min. The sediments were washed
several times with 5 mM phosphate buffer with 0.15 M NaCl
until no more haemoglobin was detected in the supernatant.
The degree of haemolysis was estimated from measurements of haemoglobin absorbance at 546 nm in the respective supernatants using an SLM Aminco DW2000 spectrophotometer.
For MoÈssbauer experiments we used erythrocytes (8 109
red blood cells per millilitre) treated with Ph3SnCl (2.86 mM)
or Me3SnCl (3.33 mM) containing 119Sn in natural abundance.
The total initial volume of each sample was 10 ml. After
haemolysis we centrifuged the samples and washed the
sediments several times (see above), collecting the supernatants and sediments separately. For the experiments we
lyophilized the fractions. The transmission 119Sn MoÈssbauer
spectra were recorded at 80 K in a continuous flow cryostat
(CF506, Oxford Instruments). The temperature stability was
within 0.1 K. The source of 23.9 keV gamma radiation was
Ca119mSnO3 (1 mCi) kept at room temperature. The very
weak effect of the resonant absorption in the case of samples
containing erythrocyte membranes, ca 0.1%, required 10
days, resulting in final statistics of 73.4 106 counts per
channel.
The elasticity of the intact red blood cells and cells treated
with various toxicants, which contained about 9 109 red
blood cells per millilitre, was measured using a home-built
scanning force microscope (SFM) working in contact mode.9
Commercial silicon nitride cantilevers were used as a probe,
with a spring constant of 0.01 N m 1 (Atos GmbH,
Germany). The tip radii were determined with a TGT01
silicon standard (NMDT, Russia) to be about 20±30 nm. In
these measurements, a drop of precipitated erythrocytes,
prepared in accordance with the procedure described above,
was put on a glass covered with 0.015% poly-L-lysine
(Sigma±Aldrich). The measurements were performed at
room temperature in 5 mM phosphate buffer pH 7.4
containing 0.15 M NaCl. A separate force calibration was
always performed for each series of curves. As a calibration
reference, a glass plate was used. Its stiffness was assumed to
be infinite in the range of applied loads (up to about 5 nN).
RESULTS
Haemolytic activity
The haemolytic activities of the organometallic compounds
at various concentrations and two different incubation times
are shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that, for all cases, the
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
149
150
K. Burda et al.
exhibited much lower effectiveness in haemolysis than
Ph3PbCl, Ph3SnCl and Pr3SnCl. This was even more
pronounced for samples incubated for 60 min. However,
Et3PbCl had significantly higher haemolytic activity than
Me3SnCl for both incubation times.
To summarize, haemolytic activity increased with the size
of the hydrophobic moiety of the organotin and organolead
compounds. For the same organic ligation of metal,
compounds containing lead cations were more effective
than the corresponding tin compounds in the process of
lysis, which is evident for triphenyltin and triphenyllead.
MoÈssbauer studies
Figure 1. The haemolytic activity of organotins and organoleads
as a function of their applied concentrations for 30 min (A) and
60 min (B) of incubation at 37 °C.
degree of haemolysis increases with the time of incubation.
The highest haemolytic effect was observed for Ph3PbCl.
Pr3SnCl and Ph3SnCl exhibited similar haemolytic activities
up to a concentration of 0.25 mM. At higher concentrations,
the Pr3SnCl was more efficient in haemolysis than Ph3SnCl,
especially for longer times of incubation. The lowest
haemolytic activity was observed for Me3SnCl. Et3PbCl
We measured MoÈssbauer spectra of red blood cells treated
with Ph3SnCl at a concentration exhibiting 80% haemolytic
activity, and Me3SnCl at a concentration exhibiting 20%
haemolytic activity. All spectra of organotin chlorides, as
well as of the lyophilized fractions of the supernatants
containing haemoglobin and sediments containing erythrocyte membranes, were fitted by single doublets. Increasing
the number of fitted lines did not improve the quality of fits.
The corresponding isomer shift d quadruple splitting DE,
and the line-width G of the least-squares fits are given in
Table 1. In Fig. 2 we show the spectra of Ph3SnCl and
triphenyltin bound to erythrocyte membranes. The solid
lines in Fig. 2 represent the theoretical curves.
It can be seen from Table 1 that most of the Me3SnCl
remained in the supernatant. On the contrary, Ph3Sn(IV) was
detected only in the sediment. Comparison of the hyperfine
parameters of the solid compounds with the organotins
within the lyophilized fractions of partially haemolysed red
blood cells showed that trimethyltin did not interact
specifically with erythrocytes, whereas triphenyltin reacted
in a highly specific way with erythrocyte membranes.
The MoÈssbauer hyperfine parameters, namely isomer shift
and quadrupole splitting, which are related to the electron
density and the electric field gradient (EFG) at the nucleus
respectively, give an insight into the structure, reactivity and
mechanism of transformation of organotin compounds.10,11
Using the concept of partial quadrupole splitting (p.q.s.)
produced by a specified ligand,12 some qualitative informa-
Table 1. 119Sn MoÈssabuer parameters of organotin(IV) in lyophilized pig erythrocyte systems. Measurements were performed at 80 K. In
all cases a single doublet has been ®tted to the experimental dataa
Organotin system
d (mm s 1)
DE (mm s 1)
(mm s 1)
Me3SnCl (solid)
Me3SnCl in the supernatant of erythrocytes haemolysed 20%
Me3SnCl in the sediment of erythrocytes haemolysed 20%
Ph3SnCl (solid)
Ph3SnCl in the supernatant of erythrocytes haemolysed 80%
Ph3SnCl in the sediment of erythrocytes haemolysed 80%
1.46 0.01
1.28 0.01
3.48 0.01
3.40 0.01
Not observed
2.58 0.01
Not observed
1.74 0.01
1.56 0.02
1.24 0.01
a
1.34 0.01
1.25 0.01
1.22 0.01
1.56 0.01
d: isomer shift with respect to CaSnO3 at room temperature; DE: quadrupole splitting; : full width at half-height of the resonance peak.
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
Organotin-induced haemolysis
Figure 2. MoÈssbauer spectra of Ph3SnCl (A) and triphenyltin
bound to erythrocyte membranes (B). The solid lines represent
®tted curves.
tion about the nearest neighbourhood of tin(IV) can be
obtained. The applied point charge model of the EFG,
restricted to the contribution from the nearest neighbours,
leads to the conclusion that a certain ligand always gives the
same contribution to the quadrupole splitting, or, more
precisely, to the total EFG tensor, independently of the other
ligands. For estimation of the quadrupole splitting, which is
the measurable quantity, the complete EFG tensor was
constructed for the expected four- and five-coordinate
complexes of the organotins investigated. The possible
isomers of SnACB3 and SnAB3 complexes are shown in
Fig. 3, where B represents an organic ligand, and A and C are
two other ligands (for example halides). We used the p.q.s.
values for various ligands bound to tin(IV) at different types
of environment.13,14 The calculated values of the quadrupole
splitting are given in Table 2. A comparison of these values
with those obtained experimentally shows that the solid
Ph3SnCl has a four-coordinate structure and solid Me3SnCl
has a five-coordinate structure. Me3SnCl is an example of a
compound having an associated structure in the solid state,12
whereas Ph3SnCl has no associated structures. The experimental DE values for the solid chloride of methyltin are
slightly higher than the theoretical values. This is probably
due to small changes in angles and lengths of the SnÐCl
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Figure 3. The possible structures of four-coordinate SnAB3 (a)
and isomers of ®ve-coordinate SnACB3; a trigonal bipyramidal
arrangement of ligands with A and C as trans ligands (b), with A
as trans ligand and C as cis ligand (c), and with A and C as cis
ligands (d).
bonds. The isomer shift and the quadrupole splitting
estimated for trimethyltin in lyophilized supernatant are
slightly smaller than the hyperfine parameters for the solid
compound; this is perhaps due to structural changes of
bonds, which lead to some decrease in the effective number
of 5s electrons within the nucleus.
The hyperfine parameters of Ph3Sn(IV) in erythrocyte
membranes were measured for the first time. As can be seen
from Table 2, there are a few candidates for organotin
complexes for which the theoretical values of quadrupole
splitting would match the experimental DE. These are:
tetrahedral coordination of tin with an axial ligand of
imidazole nitrogen Nhet (from histidine) or of hydroxyl;
trigonal bipyramidal structure with two axial ligands of Sthiol
(from cysteine) and Nhet/Nam (amino group); five-coordinate complexes with Nhet and hydroxyl to form axial and
equatorial ligands of mixed or homogeneous character. In
fact, we can exclude hydroxyl ligation of tin, since it is
known that for such compounds the isomer shift does not
exceed 1 mm s 1.15,16 Comparing this value with the value of
the experimental isomer shift of 1.25 mm s 1, it can be seen
that only structures containing heterocyclic nitrogen or/and
sulfur are possible ligands of tin in the systems investigated.
SFM investigations
Using scanning force microscopy, we measured the elasticity
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
151
152
K. Burda et al.
Table 2. Calculated quadrupole splittings for four-coordinate
SnAB3 and ®ve-coordinate SnACB3 complexesa
Complex
Ligands
Calculated DE (mm s 1)
Tetrahedral structures (Fig. 3a)
A = Cl
2.52
A = Nhet
1.60
A = Sthiol
1.54
A = OH
1.72
Me3SnA
A = Cl
2.74
A = OH
1.94
Trigonal bipyramidal
Both ligands A and C are axial (Fig. 3b)
Me3SnAC
A = C = Cl
3.39
A = Cl, C = OH
3.13
Ph3SnAC
A = C = Cl
2.94
A = Cl, C = OH
2.68
A = C = OH
2.42
A = C = Nam
2.98
A = C = Nhet
2.74
A = C = Sthiol
0.56
A = Sthiol, C = Nhet
1.65
Ligand A is axial and ligand C is equatorial (Fig. 3c)
Ph3SnAC
A = Cl, C = Nhet
1.92
A = Nhet, C = Cl
2.05
A = C = Nhet
1.92
A = C = Nam
2.06
A = C = Sthiol
0.78
A = Nhet, C = Sthiol
0.95
A = Sthiol, C = Nhet
2.23
A = C = OH
1.73
A = OH, C = Nhet
1.93
1.73
A = Nhet, C = OH
A = Nam, C = OH
1.74
A = OH, C = Nam
2.08
2.01
A = Sthiol, C = OH
A = OH, C = Sthiol
0.83
Both ligands A and C are equatorial (Fig. 3d)
Ph3SnAC
A = C = Hhet
3.42
A = C = Sthiol
1.53
A = C = OH
3.14
A = C = Cl
3.61
Ph3SnA
a
het: heterocyclic nitrogen from histidine; thiol: thiolate from cysteine;
am: nitrogen from amino group.
of erythrocytes under natural conditions. We calculated the
Young's modulus, characterizing the cell stiffness9,17 in the
frame of the Sneddon model for interaction, describing the
case of the elastic half-space pushed by a hard axisymmetric
indenter.18 SFM tips, used in the measurements, were foursided-shaped pyramids. Their shape could be approximated
by a paraboloid or cone.
For micromolar concentrations of toxicants we did not
observe any significant differences between the elasticity of
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Figure 4. Typical force versus indentation curves taken for intact
erythrocytes and erythrocytes incubated with 33 mM Ph3SnCl at
37 °C for 30 min.
intact erythrocytes and erythrocytes treated with organometals. However, we found an apparent change of Young's
modulus for red blood cells treated with 33 mM Ph3SnCl
(30 min incubation at 37 °C), which caused less than 20% of
haemolysis (Fig. 1A). Figure 4 shows the force curves of
intact erythrocytes and those influenced by Ph3SnCl but not
haemolysed. The data were collected in two independent
measurements of 16 cells (ten force curves were collected for
each cell). The Young's modulus of 10.1 2.1 kPa for intact
red blood cells falls to 4.3 1.0 kPa for cells treated with
Ph3SnCl. This means that the treated erythrocytes are less
stiff than the intact cells.
DISCUSSION
We can arrange the organoleads and organotins according to
their haemolytic activity: triphenyllead > tripropyltin =
triphenyltin > triethyllead > trimethyltin. In the homologous series, the toxicity increases with the hydrophobicity of
the organic ligands. Compounds containing lead are always
more effective in haemolysis than the corresponding
compounds with tin. These results are in agreement with
earlier reports.19
The distribution of Me3SnCl and Ph3SnCl in erythrocyte
systems can be explained by the hydrophilic nature of
trimethyltin (which is responsible for its relatively poor
haemolytic activity) and the hydrophobic character of
triphenyltin and tripropyltin (which shows a highly haemolytic action). This, in turn, suggests that the high-affinity
binding site of triphenyltin is located in a very hydrophobic
region of the erythrocyte membrane systems. Despite the
fact that Ph3SnCl caused 80% of haemolysis, no tin was
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
Organotin-induced haemolysis
detected in the supernatant. This observation allowed us to
conclude that pig haemoglobin has no binding sites for
organotins. So far, only cat and rat haemoglobins have been
found to bind organotins.14,20,21 The Sthiol cysteine and Nhet
histidine were suggested to be highly specific ligands of
organic compounds of tin.14,20,21
In our studies, the high-affinity binding site of triphenyltin, characterized by the same hyperfine parameters as those
found for cat and rat haemoglobins or rat mitochondrial
ATPase,6,22 is provided by components of the erythrocyte
membrane. As far as we know, such a highly specific
interaction of organotins with membrane components has
not previously been observed.23 The hydrophobic triphenyltin easily penetrates the membrane and can access its
inner part. Therefore, it may interact with the integral
proteins as well as with the cytoskeleton proteins. The
broader linewidth of our spectrum, compared with the
natural one, supports the idea that the ligation of triphenyltin with erythrocyte membrane has a non-homogeneous
character. This means that there are more binding sites
within the protein components of erythrocyte membranes,
giving perhaps more than one binding site for Ph3Sn(IV).
The high-affinity binding sites of triphenyltin can have a
trigonal bipyramidal structure with two axial ligands of Sthiol
(from cysteine) and Hhet (from histidine), as in the case of rat
and cat haemoglobins, and/or a five- or four-coordinate
structure only with the heterocyclic nitrogen of histidine, as
was observed in the case of ATPase in rat mitochondrial
membrane. We suggest that several cytoskeletal proteins and
integral membrane proteins are potential targets of triphenyltin action. For example, it is well known that ankyrin 1,
present in red blood cells, is formed by 24 tandemly
organized repeats, each of them containing 33 amino acids.24
We have performed an analysis of the amino acid sequence
and the tertiary structure of erythroid and non-erythroid
ankyrins based on the data in the Protein Data Bank. We
found that the following amino acid sequence conserved
within the ankyrin repeats is one of the possible binding sites
of triphenyltin:
. . . GSTPLHIACKKN
HVRVMELLLKTGASIDAVTESGLTPLHVASFMGHLPIVK . . .
The tertiary structure of the amino acids given provides a
similar arrangement of histidine and cysteine residues to the
cat (rat) haemoglobin. The underlined, bold letters indicate
cysteine (C) and histidine (H) residues that are probably
ligated to tin. b-Spectrin, which is a very important
cytoskeleton protein, is also a highly probable candidate
that can provide the binding site for the triphenyltin. It is
composed of about 18 repeats, each of them containing 106
amino acids organized in a triple helical structure.25 A
possible binding site, analogous to the haemoglobin one, can
Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
be located within the structure made of:
LWCQMKTAGYPNVNIHN FTTS
WRDGMAFNALIHKHRP
This amino acid sequence is conserved in b-spectrins.
Ankyrin has binding sites for cytoskeleton proteins. It
provides a high-affinity linkage of the spectrin±actin networks to the inner surface of the plasma membrane. One
ankyrin molecule is bound to one b-subunit of the spectrin
heterotetramer. Erythrocyte ankyrin has two binding sites
for protein band 3. It induces oligomerization of protein
band 3.26 Erythrocyte ankyrin also binds (Na,K)-ATPase.24,27
The disruption of the binding between Na,K-ATPase and
ankyrin may cause inhibition of ATP synthesis. The
interaction of Ph3Sn(IV) with ankyrin, spectrin and/or band
3 protein can explain in a consistent way the lower stiffness
of red blood cells treated with the toxicant.
We observed a decrease of the Young's modulus of
modified erythrocytes at a 33 mM concentration of Ph3SnCl.
We did not detect any change in the elasticity of cells treated
with such low concentrations of Me3SnCl or even Pr3SnCl,
the latter in our studies exhibiting a similar haemolytic
activity to triphenyltin. This suggests that triphenyltin
interacts with components of erythrocyte membranes in a
different way than tripropyltin. The concentration of
Ph3SnCl applied was almost stoichiometric (107 Ph3Sn per
cell, before the sample was washed out several times) in
relation to the protein band 3 (about 106 copies per cell),
ankyrin (about 105 copies per cell) or b-spectrin (about 105
copies per cell), assuming more than one binding site per
molecule in the two latter cases.
The cytoskeleton proteins are very important for maintaining the integrity of the erythrocyte membrane and their
modification can lead to changes in the erythrocyte stiffness.
There are two possible mechanisms that could modify the
rigidity of the cells: an increase of the tension in the inner
lipid monolayer or/and the reorganization of the spectrin±
actin network and its linkage to the membrane. Under
normal conditions, the entire bilayer is underlaid with a
cytoskeleton.28 In the intact cell, the skeleton is expanded by
means of its interactions with the membrane bilayer,29 but
under non-physiological conditions, the area of the isolated
red blood cell membrane skeleton decreases.30±32 Hence, the
lateral tension and the elastic energy of the skeleton are
decreased after a partial detachment of the lipid bilayer. In
our case, the interaction of triphenyltin with ankyrin or bspectrin could be responsible for the observed changes of
erythrocyte rigidity. Our results are in accordance with the
knowledge that the abnormal or deficient membrane skeletal
proteins responsible for the haemolytic anaemias in humans
and mice lead to major defects in erythrocyte shape and
mechanical stability.33
Summarizing, we have shown, using 119Sn MoÈssbauer
spectroscopy, that triphenyltin interacts in a highly specific
Appl. Organometal. Chem. 2002; 16: 148±154
153
154
K. Burda et al.
way with protein components of pig erythrocyte membranes, but not with pig haemoglobin. We suggest that some
components of the cytoskeleton provide a high-affinity
binding site for the toxicant. This idea is supported by
measurements of the elasticity of red blood cells, which
showed lower stiffness only in the case of treatment with low
concentrations of Ph3SnCl causing less than 20% of haemolysis.
Acknowledgements
The work was partially supported by the State Committee for
Scientific Research (KBN) grant nos 2 P03B 06615 and 6 P04A 03817.
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